In 2016 Mozart Sold More CDs Than Beyoncé

Mozart tops the charts, despite inability to tour

According to this piece in Atlas Obscura, the artist who sold the most CDs in 2016 wasn’t Beyonce, Adele, or Bowie … it was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). If true, that’s an impressive achievement given that the artist has been unable to tour for 225 years due to death. Academics have argued over the cause of the great composer’s demise and come up with 118 different possibilities – yet none of these apparent causes have prevented him shifting gargantuan quantities of CDs in the 21st century. Quality and quantity – a rare combination.

True, some statistical sleight of hand is at work to put Mozart at the top of the charts. In October 2016, a 200 CD collection of the composer’s entire catalogue was put out. Multiply thousands of box sets sold by the number of discs inside and you get a huge final Figaro (bad pun … long silence … I’ll get my coat).

The end of the year is the time for nerdish lists

Talking of classical composers, I jotted down a few dates and think it astonishing that everything below could have taken place within the lifetime of one person (e.g. that of George III or William Herschel – both long lived persons born in 1738).

11 thoughts on “In 2016 Mozart Sold More CDs Than Beyoncé”

Thank you for a lovely post. It is amazing what a fertile time period that was. The births of the romantic poets (and some of their deaths) and the births of some of the Victorian poets and novelists fit right in there too.

And thank you. 🙂 Yes, an astonishingly productive time. Oh, to have been George III (minus the health issues and insanity) or William Herschel. Herschel’s sister, Caroline (also a musician/astronomer) lived with him and died aged 97 (1750-1848). What changes she must have seen! I used to live near their house in Bath, England.

Despite inability to tour xD you crack me up! Glad to see you back and posting 🙂
Indeed a very busy period for music and art at that time. I think it depends on the focus of the century, because if you looked at the 20th century in terms of technology, so many things changed that it’s hard to believe it could also happen in one person’s lifetime.

Thank ye! Yep – much change – and life expectancy gets ever longer. What I wrote is partly influenced by the fact it is the time I would most liked to have lived in, perhaps the period of Caroline Herschel’s life (1750-1848). That said, imagine a visit to the dentist or the doctor! Plus the fact that she got typhus, aged 10, and only grew to 4 ft 3 inches. What the heck – you can’t have everything.